And feedback from businesses involved has revealed that the SYITC-led mission scored that goal! A highlight of the 2007 mission was the 'must-attend' event in the football calendar ‘Soccerex’, this year hosted by Johannesburg, South Africa. Now in its 11th year, Soccerex has firmly established itself as the only global convention dedicated to the professional b2b football environment.

The four-day event incorporates an international conference, exhibition and festival, attended by football's senior decision makers and where workshops run by industry experts provide an invaluable insight into the ‘beautiful game’.

Delegates attending Soccerex 2007 via the SYITC’s trade mission included ‘Football Unites, Racism Divides’, Comagogo, Football Factors and Sheffield FC.

The Prime Minister’s Ambassador for 2018 England World Cup bid and Sheffield FC’s Honorary Vice President Richard Caborn also spoke at one of the Soccerex seminars.

The SYITC delegates were able to showcase their products and services at the huge international forum – and it paid off for many including Sheffield FC, currently celebrating its 150th anniversary year with the Sheffield Chamber of Commerce.

Sheffield FC’s team manager Dave McCarthy said: “Soccerex was obviously the most useful of the activities on the mission. It gave us the opportunity to meet like-minded clubs and businesses from the world of football.

“We met companies from overseas which will we hope prove extremely useful. We made some excellent contacts. I would say that we returned with at least eight positive pieces of business, all as a result of the mission.

“It was a great mission for everyone concerned with Sheffield FC. We certainly appreciate the work that went into getting us to Africa and are grateful for the progress that this will hopefully bring to our business.”

Fellow delegate and Comagogo founder Jed Fraser said of the event: “Having access to key players in diverse specialisms - from clubs to agencies to manufacturers and rights holders - meant that the ‘whole was greater than the sum of its parts’ and I could re-visit contacts to feed back into discussion what I had learned in meetings with others.

“Each was important in their own right, but having all these international players together in one place was invaluable.”

SYITC international trade advisor Heather Guile said: “Football is a multibillion-dollar industry as evidenced by last year’s Soccerex which saw more than £350 million worth of business signed off.

“We hope the 2007 event will be just as fruitful for our delegates and hope the mission kicked off a lot of potential business opportunities for them.”

Front row (left to right) Football Unites Racism Divides’ Howard Holmes, UK Trade and Investment chief executive Andrew Cahn, SYITC’s Heather Guile, Richard Caborn and Sheffield FC’s Richard Tims.

Back row (left to right) – Football Unites Racism Divides’ Piara Powar, Comagogo’s Jed Fraser and UK trade commissioner to South Africa Brian Gallagher.